2001-10-22 04:00:00 PDT Oakland -- Barbara Lee was out of character when she cast the lone dissenting vote that denied President Bush unanimous support to wage war against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

While the vote reflected her political beliefs, stepping out front to become a national symbol is far from the typical behind-the-scenes style of the East Bay congresswoman.

In the five weeks since her historic vote on Sept. 14, Lee has quietly gone back to work, appearing briefly in her district last week to stump for hiring federal workers to handle airport security.

She has shunned the klieg lights and one-on-one interviews with national TV anchors. She has returned to a social justice agenda and is working with her constituents to galvanize support in her district.

Never mind her would-be challengers in next year's election -- a former Green Party assemblywoman and a homegrown black Republican.

Lee is as popular as ever, maybe even more popular, in the Democratic stronghold. A crowd of some 3,000 supporters showed their approval of her vote at a rally yesterday in downtown Oakland.

So she's had her 15 minutes of fame, thank you. She can do without the national spotlight.

"She never expected to be the lone person out there," said a source familiar with the events surrounding her vote. "The response was so overwhelming, and people were saying she was unpatriotic and Communist and all sorts of horrible things.

"It made her want to retreat a little bit."

Her "no" vote last month prompted a flood of letters and e-mails -- 50,000 to date -- from around the nation. Thousands of communiques, many praising her,

others expressing outrage, were sent to her offices in Washington and Oakland,

so many that a plainclothes officer in Washington was assigned to protect her.

Then came a wave of calls for interviews, from all the networks and national newspapers. She chose to talk to Bay Area media, a move expected by any politician trying to quell dissatisfaction in the home district.

But Lee appeared only once on national TV, on ABC's "Oprah Winfrey Show" as part of a panel of distinguished women discussing the future of the nation's children. Famed poet Maya Angelou was also a guest.

"That was the only national show I did because it was a respectful show," Lee told me last week.

It gave her an opportunity to address a national audience and explain her vote -- without challenges from reporters eager to advance the controversy.

Lee and her staff were also worried about the appearance of self-promotion at a time of national crisis.

"She was so saddened and angered by the attacks that for her to talk about the vote could almost look like she was trying to take advantage of the situation," said one staffer, speaking anonymously.

Taking advantage of the situation is exactly what at least one East Bay political hopeful is trying to do.

Proclaiming that it's "OK to love America," former state Assemblywoman Audie Bock has announced plans to challenge Lee in the March Democratic primary for the 9th Congressional District race.

Bock is hoping to pull off an upset like the one she engineered in 1999 as a member of the Green Party, defeating former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris in a special election.

Supporters of Shannon Reeves, a Republican and the president of the Oakland chapter of the NAACP, are weighing his chances as a candidate against Lee.

But Reeves, and no other Republican, could win in the district, which includes Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville and Albany.

"This Oakland-based district is one of the safest Democratic seats in the nation," wrote Charlie Cook, author of the Almanac of American Politics, a manual on Capitol Hill politics.

"Lee will hold this seat for as long as she wants it," he wrote.

Bock, a longtime East Bay resident, should know better. Most political observers believe Lee, elected to Congress in 1998, will not pay at the polls for her vote on the war.